Peoria Police are asking for help in solving three separate shootings between Saturday and Sunday nights. Five people total were shot. Three are dead.
24-year-old John W. Bell III was killed at the corner of Wyoming and Oregon Streets Saturday, April 7th at 9:15 p.m. He was shot 10 times, twice in the back of the head, with six penetrating wounds. The coroner says Bell died on the sidewalk in front of a church.
The second shooting happened at a house party at 1821 W. Bradley Avenue about 1:40 a.m. It had been advertised on social media and may not have been the first such party at the house. 18-year-old Bradley University freshman Nasjay Murry of Chicago and 22-year-old Anthony ‘AJ’ Polnitz were shot and killed inside the house at the corner of Bradley and Western.
The preliminary autopsy shows Murry was shot once in the head. Polnitz was shot three times, twice in the back and once in the face. A third young woman, also a Bradley student was shot in the hand. She was treated and released.
Criminal Investigations Division Captain Mike Scally says the party was publicized on Facebook. He says at least 100 people were fleeing the party when police arrived.
“I have no suspect information to release at this time. A hundred people in this house we should be able to locate someone who saw or knows what happened there. And to lose to young lives like this I hope these young people would come forward and give us the information that they have,” Scally said.
The Police Captain says people also left personal possessions when they fled the house. “We have 13 cell phones from the house, either inside or outside that people abandoned while they were fleeing. So anyone who was there and needs to get those cell phones back, please come to the Peoria Police Department. We would like to talk to you because we know you were there, and we would like to return your property to you.”
Another man was injured in a third shooting Sunday night on Montana. Police are asking anyone who knows anything about the other two shootings Saturday and Sunday to come forward with information or call Crime Stoppers to share it anonymously.